Macedonia has held the second round of parliamentary elections which could affect the situation in neighbouring Kosovo.

A centre-right opposition alliance that has questioned the use of Macedonia as a base for NATO missions in Kosovo took the lead in the first round.

One of the parties in the alliance VMRO-DPMNE also has a strongly Slav nationalist background in a country with a large ethnic Albanian minority.

However the BBC correspondent in the region says the campaign has been more focused on the economy, with unemployment affecting up to forty per cent of the workforce.

First results are expected on Monday. later today